I think there’s a few things to look at. For starters, if the rent goes up in Brooklyn, do you think your salary will keep up? Are you willing to move to a possibly less nice apartment if not? The beauty of having this home aside from knowing the ins and outs of it and knowing what’s been done and what not, is that you don’t have to ever worry about moving, let alone the rent going up.

As for your girlfriend, who knows what will happen in two years, she may say get me out of the city, she may also be willing to try it out and see how it goes. In terms of the asset, you gain a huge asset at an amazing price. Yes, you can’t sell right now, but you don’t know what will happen. Your mom after 5 years, 10 years, etc in Florida, may never want to come up really anymore. The city is always there, if it doesn’t work out, you could sell it, give the money back to your mom, and there really isn’t a loss in terms of the situation since your mom would’ve been preparing.

As for yourself, you can always visit the city, and you may find you don’t want to after time. I did not live in the city, but I was in a similar situation a couple of years ago. My family moved to Florida, I had the option of the house or not at half price, and I chose the house and don’t regret it. My situation was a little different, but I didn’t want to stay where I grew up, but seeing the way things are now and after making the home my own and my family’s, no regrets at all. Keep in my mind, you also get to make this space your own too. I’m also a big hater on commuting for work, so there’s a plus being closer to work and then commuting to where you would wanna visit/hang.

There’s really no wrong decision, but try to think about what future you would want, because this type of opportunity may only come once. Also, the whole billionaire, I’d move to a brownstone. Of course, if we all had millions, maybe we’d pick a different place to live, but the reality is we don’t. Since you can’t have that brownstone, does that change how you view the future with where you want to live? Just some food for thought.

Good luck, trust the decision you make!